[aseipp]

Your best options IMO are either 1) a Mac Mini with 16GB of RAM running a Linux VM or Asahi Linux connected OR 2) an Nvidia Jetson Xavier AGX; you can get the 32GB version for like $700 USD I think. (The newer Orin is a fair bit more expensive.)

You realistically want something with ARMv8.2 or better, these are relatively easy to acquire with the current supply chains, they're beefy, can be equipped with fast storage, and they are both small units you can put on your desk. Note that the Xavier will require you to fiddle with the usual Nvidia bullshit through their SDK but it's otherwise a standard Ubuntu machine. It should be possible to get another distro on there too. The M1 will almost certainly perform better overall watt-for-watt though.